1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for identifying a type of a peripheral connected to an information processing apparatus.
2) Description of the Related Art
In recent years, personal computers are generally shipped in a state that not only an operating system (OS) but also software such as various applications and drivers are preinstalled into them. Even when the software is preinstalled into personal computers manufactured by one manufacturer, types and combinations of the software vary according to models of the personal computers. Accordingly, many variations are present.
In order to install the software into personal computers, it is necessary to execute installers for the software. Conventionally, in factories from which personal computers are shipped, since the work for installing various types of software is automated, installer executing programs that sequentially execute the installers are prepared for respective models. As personal computers of different models are being developed, however, types of the required installer executing programs have been increased. The load required for creating and managing the programs have been increased accordingly.
To deal with the above problems, there is disclosed a system in which a versatile installer executing program that can be applied to a plurality of models is created. In this system, the installer executing program identifies a constitution of a device into which the program is installed, and an installer of the software according to the identified device constitution is executed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-318694).
When the technique disclosed in the above literature is utilized, it is very important to accurately identify a constitution of a device where installation is carried out. A variety of devices to be connected to personal computers are present, but if they cannot be accurately identified, software to be installed cannot be selected suitably.
For example, a variety of monitors with different resolution that are connected to personal computers are present, and thus it is necessary to install drivers according to the types. In the case of general external monitors, the types of the monitors can be specified by communication with the monitors using a standard such as display data channel (DDC). However, since desktop personal computers with monitors, such as laptop personal computers, and some external monitors are not compatible with the DDC, the personal computers themselves should identify the types of the monitors and install drivers according to the monitors.
When, therefore, such monitors are used, the versatile installer executing program disclosed in the above literature cannot be applied to the installation of the drivers, and thus an installer executing program has to be created for each type, same as the conventional technique.